This is not a suggestion post, everyone in this post is talking just to talk; including myself.
Since day 1 a large portion of the pirate player-base have ranted about the blunderbuss being overpowered due to the knock-back and one-shot kill ability. Both of these powerful traits are unique to the blunderbuss.
The blunderbuss is supposed to be a high-risk, high-reward close-quarters weapon. If you can close the distance without dying, you deserve the reward of the one-shot kill.
However, due to the game's design; the vast majority of fighting takes place aboard rocking ships inside confined spaces and on narrow decks. This makes the blunderbuss with its close-quarters prowess and reliable scattershot hands down the most practical weapon to use 90%+ of the time.
Despite the enemy's fast and unpredictable movement, despite the ship rocking wildly in the waves, despite hitreg, or even despite your possibly nervous, shakey hands because you started playing 2 hours ago.. you're going to get a kill with that blunderbuss. This however is not just due to the weapon's power, but the terrain we are more often than not forced to fight on.
In conclusion regarding the blunderbuss, (I can't believe I'm saying this) I say the blunderbuss is not overpowered in and of itself, but it is situationally dominant the majority of the time.
The 2nd most reliable weapon is the Eye of Reach. Why? Because it does the 2nd most amount of damage in 1 shot, it has the longest range in the game, and the projectile travels so fast it's practically hitscan.
While the Blunderbuss utilizes wide-cone scattershot to ensure a hit in the unpredictable Sea of Thieves environment, the Eye of Reach has extreme projectile speed which drastically increases its reliability. I love the Eye of Reach for this.
The sword is insane.
You: Ok, bro.. what's your point?
Me: I really, really, really want to see more weapon and play-style variety because I find that exciting. I hate metas and love when combat is always fresh and interesting.
You: Do you have any ideas on how to change things up for the better?
Me: My best guess at this would be not to nerf the strong, reliable weapons, but to make the "lesser" weapons easier and more reliable to use...
I'll explain in the next section.
If you look at any competitive hourglass matches, everyone's using blunder/snipe because it just makes sense.. it really does. Combat in Sea of Thieves is so incredibly unpredictable and inconsistent in every way for every reason, you just can't take a chance on using something less reliable without suffering dire consequences.
In order for any other of the "lesser" weapons to have a chance to be competitive, they will need a buff. Not necessarily to damage, but to reliability.
The lesser weapons being:
- Flintlock Pistol
- Throwing Knives
- Double barreled pistol
You: Bro, how do we buff reliability? The devs can't even fix hitreg after all these years!
Me: If you look to the 3 most favored weapons, you'll get your answer.
- Blunderbuss: Wide cone of damage, 10 projectiles
- Eye of Reach: High velocity
- Sword: Stun-lock blender vortex:
...Therefore
-
Flintlock Pistol: It should have its projectile speed and Player-collision size increased. Possibly +5 dmg as well. All weapons most definitely need to be able to knock boarders off of ladders.
-
Throwing Knife: It should have its projectile speed, physics consistency, and player-collision size increased, and possibly add a stun-lock effect to it. Maybe stun-lock can be a trait for bladed weapons? The power-attack definitely needs a damage buff to be as high as 90-100dmg to compete with the blunderbuss.
70 dmg is just not good enough, and I'm shocked the devs thought it would be? You have to be close enough to smell that pirates breath to get the attack off, and you only do the damage of 1 EoR bullet? I'll stick to the EoR. The Blunderbuss can one-shot you at full health from triple the distance you need to stand with a dagger for a power attack.. it can do it 3x as fast too..
- Double-Barreled Pistol: The double 40dmg shots need to have the same velocity and accuracy as the pistol currently does. It's the odd velocity and bullet physics that are throwing people off so bad. The Charged 80dmg power-shot should have knock-back like the blunderbuss.. and again.. same velocity as the current pistol.
Tl;dr
Balance less-used weapons by increasing reliability more so than damage output.
Discuss?
